This invention relates to a connector, and more particularly to a connector of the type having a connection effected using a lever.
Connectors utilizing levers have an advantage in that connection and disconnection can be effected with a small force. This has been applied particularly to multipole connectors. The fundamental construction of such connectors is known and described in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 4-62772 as follows.
A number of male terminals are provided in a male connector housing serving as a receiving connector housing. A number of female terminals are provided in a female connector housing to be inserted into the male terminals. A lever with cam grooves for effecting leverage is pivotally mounted on the male connector housing, and engagement projections are provided on a central portion of a lower portion of a cover mounted on the female connector housing.
The engagement projections of the cover are respectively engaged in the cam grooves of the lever for connecting the two connector housings together. In this condition, the lever is pivotally movable. As a result, the cover and the female connector housing are inserted into the male connector housing by a cam action of the cam grooves so that the male and female terminals of the two connector housings are connected together against a mechanical insertion resistance, thus completing the connection of the two connector housings.
The group of terminals provided in each connector housing are not always of the same type and are not always arranged and distributed uniformly. For example, a so-called hybrid type is shown in FIG. 7A in which a smaller number of power terminals 1a and a larger number of signal terminals 1b are provided in a male connector housing In such a type, when a female connector housing 2 is to be inserted into a male connector housing 1, a large unbalance of a mechanical insertion resistance may occur between the right and the left regions of the group of terminals 1a, 1b.
If such insertion resistance unbalance is encountered, the female connector housing 2 is inserted in a tilted manner, as shown in FIG. 7A, so that the opposite end edges of the female connector housing 2 interfere with an inner surface of the male connector housing 1 at two points, which are designated, respectively, by reference characters X and Y in FIG. 7B.
The female connector housing 2 is generally made of a synthetic resin material. An engagement projection 4 engaged in a cam groove 3a of a lever 3 is provided at a central position in the X-Y direction. Therefore, the female connector housing 2 is elastically deformed by a pressing force applied to the engagement projection 4 through leverage of the lever 3 such that the lower surface of the female connector housing 2 bulges between the two points X and Y. This bulged portion abuts against the bottom surface of the male connector housing 1 so that the female connector housing 2 cannot be further inserted. As a result, the female connector housing 2 remains tilted relative to the male connector housing 1. This may cause problems because the connection of the terminals is incomplete, which therefore invites incomplete contact.
In a connector where two connector housings are inserted relative to each other by hand, even if there is an unbalanced distribution of the insertion resistance, such unbalance of the insertion resistance can be readily perceived by the operator, and therefore, it can be corrected relatively easily. However, in the connector type of the above construction, when the female connector housing 2 is pressed down by the connection mechanism utilizing the leverage of the lever 3, faulty insertion cannot be perceived by the operator. Therefore, even if an incomplete connection occurs, the operator assumes that the connection of the connector has been properly made. It is desirable therefore to solve this problem.